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Did anybody ever make one? I am more or less in the middle of obtaining the parts to do it. Mine will be of simple design, but efficient. I am going to use 2 60 watt light bulbs, with some type of thermostat, not sure if wafer or solid state as of yet, but seriously considering building one. Any thoughts, comments, ect, are gladly appreciated.

Obvously the heat is much easier to regulate than the humidity. Correct humidity is essential.

I have been reading several sources on humidity. I also logged on many egg hatchery websites, and they all seem to say the same thing, air circulation is more important. I read a post on Bee-l that said, a cup of water on the bottom of the incubator will provide the humidity. I figured using a computer type fan for circulation. I need the thermostat first, before I get underway. Hey if it works, more power to me!!

Also, I read when grafting queens, you need a special room, with sprinkled water on the floor, and Dave Cushman E-mailed me and said that its not that critical. I think the queen, once capped, will be fine. If she is sealed, humidity will only really keep the cell from drying out? right?

I'm no expert on Queen incubators but I've hatched a lot of chicken, pheasant, and goose eggs and humidity was as important as heat. Eggs are sealed too, but if they dry out too much they won't hatch. I also know the humidity in a hive is higher than the ambient air, and when you heat air the RELATIVE humidity drops beacuse warm air can hold more humidity and you warmed it but didn't humidify it. I'd try a couple of mayonaise lids full of water on the floor of the incubator.

when grafting I just run the shower hot for about 5 min in the bathroom and do my grafting in there. I went to Sue's class in Ohio and they had one. They just put a couple of trays of water in to keep the humidity at a high level. They also had a solid state digitel therm.

hi hook
I have put as many as 5oo queens in a double brood box with the bees to keep the queens feed till shipping.
why not try this?
no experence nessary just remember to keep a queen excluder between hive and all the queens=====hope you know you have to put the queens in seperate boxes.
Don

Queens will be on separate boxes. I just don't have the time, to place them into mating nucs before emergence. In an incubator, when they are due to emerge, I can put hair roller cages on them. That way, when they do emerge, I don't have a big fight on my hands, and I can keep all my queens. The last time I grafted, I lost about 10 queens because one chewed thru the others. This way, I can manage my time a little better, and save on queens as well.
Once they are capped, I also can move them, and the bees won't cover them with comb as bad too. Further, I put the hair roller cage on once, and they stopped keeping it warm, and she died. I just think in my situation, it would be a godsend!

An incubator is very easy to make. Just be sure to get a temperature controller. They are accurate to 1 degree and their differential is also about 1 degree.

Use a small fan to circulate the air inside the refrigerator. Place a couple of low wattage bulbs at the bottom of the refrig with a shallow tray of water and you should be all set.

I have raised thousands of cell per year for years using an incubator. You can harvest at the prepupa state. This allows you to work on a weekly schedule. That is a particular batch of cells or hives can always be worked on the same day in a weekly schedule.

I no longer raise cells commercially so I let the bees do the work without a special breeder hive, grafting frames, starters or rearers.

If your needs are limited you can raise a small 3 frame nuc above an inner cover set on top a hive. The frame should contain mostly old or sealed brood. Shake plenty of young bees into it from the hive below. Give it a rear entrance and graft into a couple of cups pressed into a brood comb in the nuc.

The queen can be mated there and is handy when needed for replacement below or in another hive in the yard.

Well, I built it! I used two 60 watt bulbs, wafer thermostat, computer fan, built some cool ducting to recirculate the air, and will use a cup of water with a sponge to establish the humidity. Let you know how it works, April or May.